Essay: Who Wants Another Panama?

Who Wants Another Panama?

We don't want another Vietnam, everyone says, squinting into the desert sun. We want something swift and decisive, short and sweet -- a Panama perhaps. For these are the two poles of our collective military memory: on the one hand, the quicksand of Vietnam; on the other, the "brilliant success" of Panama, ; or so it was heralded at the time -- a military action so flawless, so perfectly executed that, as one of the generals responsible for carrying out the invasion boasted shortly afterward, "There were no lessons learned."